The Westminster Sustainable Business Forum and Carbon Connect held a joint panel debate in Parliament on Monday 2 December 2013 to launch their latest report into increasing take up of energy efficiency in the commercial sector: ‘Building Efficiency: Reducing energy demand in the commercial sector’.  A panel debate was co-chaired during the by Lord Whitty and Oliver Colvile MP with panel speakers being drawn from Parliament, Government, and Industry. Attendees were then invited to put questions to the panel.   The event was well attended by delegates from across the energy efficiency industry as well as a number of representatives from the civil service, finance sector, small business, third-sector, industry associations and professional institutes.   Oliver Colvile MP said, “I for one…think it is very important, that we should be reducing our CO2 emissions”        Lord Whitty said, “A lot of attention in the media… is paid to the domestic sector but the commercial sector is also very important… and therefore I would hope that the industry and the Government take the report’s recommendations seriously”.   The panel praised the report’s recommendations and how they related to their specific areas of work. They commended the report for being timely and fitting well into the current debate over reducing energy-use in the UK.   Lord Teverson: “What this report is trying to do is save us money and make the nation more competitive internationally…and the commercial sector in some ways is one of the most difficult parts to do that in. The Government must make energy efficiency policy work and perhaps it needs to use a blunter instrument to do that…if the Green Deal needs a fundamental reconstruction then that’s what we have to do.”   David Purdy: “I think it [the report] is extremely timely and a really valuable contribution to this debate…one of the tasks of my office is to look at those policies that we may need to develop in the future…our strategic aims and how well the report fits in with that because it really does…a number of the recommendations are in sympathy with the direction of travel of our policies.”   Liz Peace: “There is a lot to be gained by focusing on improving energy efficiency in the commercial built environment…we very much welcome this report…one of the points in the report about making sure that the energy and sustainability strategy has the full support of the CFO in the business is hugely important. I was very interested in the empty property rates proposal in this report and I think it merits further consideration.”   Alex Hunter: “We were very happy to support and sponsor this hefty and important piece of work…there is no doubt whatsoever that energy efficiency in the private and commercial sector is absolutely vital. This report draws out the fact that senior executives must start to think about energy efficiency as a part of the larger efficiency package.“   For more information on the content of this report and our wider work please visit the WSBF and Carbon Connect websites.